Cowboys' Jerry Jones doesn't hold back on praise for QB Trey Lance

The Dallas Cowboys swung a deal to acquire quarterback Trey Lance to serve as Dak Prescott’s backup last year, and owner Jerry Jones is looking forward to having him for another year.

Jones says he loves what he is seeing from Lance thus far.

“The arrow’s really up,” Jones said, via Michael Gehlken of The Dallas Morning News. “He’s exceeded expectations as a person, as a worker, as a character. He’s got unique skills. He’s very much what we had planned on, hoped. When we gave the pick, we knew we would be paying the bonus right now. That was a part of the same decision. That’s been reinforced by what he’s been with the team and the person he is, potentially the player.”

The Cowboys traded a fourth-round draft pick to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for Lance late last August, just before the season started.

Lance, who played his collegiate football at North Dakota State, was selected by the 49ers with the third overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft.

He played in six games and made two starts during his rookie campaign, throwing for 603 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions while completing 57.7 percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 97.3.

The 23-year-old then opened the 2022 campaign as San Francisco’s starter, but he made it just two games before suffering a season-ending ankle injury.

Brock Purdy’s emergence in the Bay then made Lance expendable for the Niners, so they dealt him to Dallas.

“We don’t know any more on the field, from the experience in games, we don’t know any more than what we knew when we brought him on, and that is his college and his time in San Francisco,” added Jones. “What we do know, though, is what he’s done in practice. We don’t know about his game experience, we don’t know his competitive experience, but we do know about his practice experience, and the things he’s done there, it’s been all plus.”

Lance was never able to get on the field for the Cowboys in 2023, and barring an injury to Prescott, he won’t be playing next season, either. But perhaps Jones and Co. see him as the future under center once Prescott departs down the line.